Living to make much of Jesus

Refuge

Blessed are all who take refuge in him….Psalm 2:12).

I have watched people, including myself, take refuge in things like; control, anger, fear, doubt, self-pity, money, jobs, clothes, food and sports. Truth is, we’re all seeking to find some type of comfort from a wound we’d rather cover up. Whenever I see a person who is taking refuge in one of these places, I often I ask myself, “I wonder if they know that they are deeply loved?”

What’s missing in our hearts that are covered with our own comforts is an understanding of who we truly are as image bearers of the Lord Jesus Christ. What the enemy loves to do is replace our identity with what has happened to us. Our past becomes our present because we use it as a way to lock our hearts away, hoping and praying no one will try to get in.

Since we’re sitting under the wrong wings of refuge whenever someone tries to help us out from under those wings, we react with anger, criticism, resentment, and control. It’s not that we don’t want to be free, we’ve just so conditioned our hearts to take refuge in the wrong places that when someone starts to lift those wings we start to panic. I know the feeling. That feeling of, “something bad might happen…if….” That’s when I know I’ve been sitting under the wrong wings of refuge for far too long.

Taking refuge under the wings of the Lord is no small thing. In fact, it means that we must be willing to let God take the wrong ones off. We may go kicking and screaming at Him for doing so because we feel so exposed and vulnerable. Yet there is one thing that we can know for sure, that as we wait, He robes us with His righteousness as our hearts become covered with grace.

Lord, forgive me for covering my heart with the wrong wings of refuge. I long to sit under your shade. Sometimes my heart becomes overwhelmed by worry. It’s because I don’t always trust you. I trust in my patterns and comforts. Lord, forgive me. I want to be made more like you. Transform my heart today, I pray, in Jesus name, Amen.